The Afterlife
by Lilac Demetrius
Summary: Both Axel and Roxas are dead, leaving their boyfriends behind. In an attempt to do something right for once in their lives; help their boyfriends move on. What happens when they get caught in a romance. Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora.
1. Chapter 1

The Afterlife

Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora. More to come :)

XXX

Roxas frowned.

All he ever wanted was to see his boyfriend smile one last time. He wanted to watch those pretty pink lips laugh and he wanted to see those bright blue eyes dance and be filled with pure happiness.

He never wanted this. He never wanted the boy he loved so much to look so defeated and sad.

And those tears were breaking his heart.

"It's your fault you know."

The blond haired boy turned and looked up at the speaker and frowned, "I know."

Xemnas sighed and took a seat next to Roxas. "they're all crying over you. Guilt eating them alive. Most are probably thinking that they could have saved you."

Roxas looked away and glared at the ground. "No one could have saved me."

"I never said they could have."

"What do you want?"

Xemnas was silent for a moment before speaking. "You decided to stay here on Earth. I was assigned your caretaker until you decide to move on."

"Move on where?"

Xemnas did not answer. He just silently watched as a pretty blond woman sob openly on a blond man's shoulder. Roxas knew the tears were fake.

Roxas sighed, knowing he would not get an answer.

Roxas watched as his brother, Cloud, walk out of the funeral room and frowned. Cloud was also having a rough time with his life due to their parents.

Both Cloud and Roxas had come out to their parents at the same time.

Their father kicked them out and their mother shunned them, then one day they show up on Cloud's door and apologized.

It was not until later that Cloud realized that they were trying to make them change. They would bring pretty girls over and scare away any boyfriends.

Roxas was jarred out of his thoughts as his beloved boyfriend Sora walk up to the podium. Roxas' parents sent him hateful glares but Sora just ignored them.

"Roxas was… he was my first and only true love," Sora began. His voice was strong now but Roxas could tell he was about to break into tears. "He was my-my best friend and-" He didn't get really far into his speech before he began to cry. "I love you Roxas. I'm sorry I wasn't a good enough boyfriend! I'm sorry I would leave my junk all over our apartment and-."

Roxas shook his head, "no Sora, it was never your fault." He whispered, knowing Sora would not be able to hear him. "I was like this before you."

Roxas hated himself more than ever now. Sora should never cry and Roxas vowed to make sure the brunet would always be happy and yet he is the reason Sora is crying.

"Come on. I have to introduce you to your partner."

Roxas looked up confused. "Partner?"

"Surely you did not think we would let you stay without a price." Xemnas raised an eyebrow.

Roxas looked down, "no, I guess not."

"Good. Follow me."

Roxas cast one last glance at his beloved boyfriend before following Xemnas.

Roxas stared as the dark skinned man walked through a wall. Tentatively he waked up to the wall and pushed his hand. Surprisingly it went through.

Roxas closed his eyes and walked forward. Once he was sure he was through the wall did he open his eyes.

Xemnas was not there. Only a tall redhead in the corner, leaning against the wall.

The redhead smiled, "You must be my partner."

Roxas frowned and shrugged. "I suppose I am."

"The name is Axel. Got it memorized?"

Roxas just stared at him confused. Just how stupid were some people?

"Roxas," he shook Axel's outstretched hand.

Axel sighed, "so, how does being dead feel?"

Roxas just rolled his eyes and sighed.

XXX

So, this is my pilot chapter. Tell me what you think in the reviews below and thank you for reading.

**Lilac ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

The Afterlife

Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora. More to come :)

XXX

It was just like any ordinary day, Sora was out with some of his buddies and, like always, Roxas was sitting at home on his own. On the computer, seeking attention from random others on the computer who, like him, also had no life.

Roxas placed a potato chip in his mouth as he thoughtfully watched what random internet people had to say about the world and how hard their lives were.

Another ten year old broke up with her boyfriend and now she will never love again.

Gay jokes and his favorite; the gay speech.

Being Gay is wrong and disgusting. They should just decide to be straight.

Now Roxas normally would not care if someone has that opinion. It's their life and he would not want to be the one to shatter their false sense of security. But it is the fact that they not only openly despise Homosexuals. They make it their job to interfere and make a huge deal.

People are gay, they are born with it. No it will not just go away because you do not like it.

Why can't they just see that? It would solve so many issues.

Then there were those horrible white girl jokes. All you need is a Starbucks coffee to catch a white girl and if that does not work, you can always make one. All you need is yoga pants, Starbucks coffee, thigh gap, IPad and boots.

Roxas shook his head and glared in disgust at the screen. What was wrong with humans today?

Then those dreaded hashtags. #SWAG and #YOLO.

Roxas decided that he had enough and switched his laptop off. He decided to make Sora a nice dinner they could enjoy together when the brunet got back.

After putting a pot of water on the stove he picked out Sora's favorite pasta.

Roxas hummed as he added the pasta in the boiling water and stirred.

Sora didn't come home for hours. Roxas sighed and ate his share and left the rest on the stove for Sora.

Just as Roxas was finishing cleaning up dinner the door opened and Roxas heard talking.

"Be quiet, will you. My roommate might be asleep," it was Sora's voice.

Roxas felt his heart drop. He knew Sora wanted to keep their relationship a secret and he agreed to it knowing full well how horrible being openly gay was but he could not help but feel disappointed that Sora would not even tell his friends or at least refer to him as a friend.

No, Roxas was just Sora's roommate.

Roxas almost felt sick at the girlish giggle that followed Sora's voice and a female voice saying, "we can just be quiet."

Sora laughed at that. Roxas did not know what to do. He knew that all they were talking about was playing video games but how long before Sora gives up on him and cheats or breaks up with the blond. What would he do then? All he wanted to do was curl up and die.

Roxas frowned at that thought. He had promised Sora he would get better. No more cutting, no more overdosing, no more locking oneself in the bathroom and crying all by himself.

Roxas hated having to put Sora through all that. He never deserved Sora. The brunet was light in his dark world. He deserved someone who could make him happy.

All Roxas managed to do was make him cry and worry over him.

Sora would be so much better off without him. All he does is make Sora stress.

He never made Sora smile. Not the way a boyfriend should.

That night all he wanted to do was cover up his guilt. Like all the other times before he locked himself in the bathroom and climbed into the tub. He turned the tap on and freezing water poured over his body.

He removed a knife out of a hidden compartment in the wall and pushed his sleeve down to bare his scarred skin.

He pressed the blade to his skin like he always did. He just needed some relief for a few hours. He allowed pain to fill his body as he watched his pretty red blood drip down his arm.

A loud knock on the door startled him causing him to smash his head to against the faucet. All he heard was a loud CRACK. He fell into the water and struggled for breath. He tried to sit up but when he put his hand down his knife slit his palm.

Roxas cried out and plopped back to the water. He hit his head again and this time everything went black.

XXX

"First you get assigned a job," Xemnas droned on as he paced in front of his newest recruits. Axel had feigned sleep long ago so Roxas had taken it upon himself to listen for both of them. "Now there are a couple available ones you will do in your time here. The deliverer, the taker, and cupid. We'll rotate the jobs around so no worries there. Once you rookies are used to these simple jobs we will upgrade you to hunting."

"Hunting what?" Roxas asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Roxas frowned but nodded regardless.

Xemnas stood and cleared his throat, "Saix will give you your assignments."

Roxas sighed as he watched the dark skinned man leave. A blue haired man stood up and crossed his arms. "Demyx and Zexion, you're on cupid duty the newbies with you."

Roxas pushed Axel off the couch to wake him up. He then stood and followed two cloaked figures to a portal.

They ended up on the streets outside of the college Roxas attends...well attended.

One of the cloaked men took off his hood and grinned at Roxas and Axel. "Hi! I'm Demyx and this is my partner Zexion."

Zexion raised an eyebrow and nodded at Roxas before going back to survey the school.

"Cupid is a fun job. We get to find two people with the same soul and bind them together. There are a thousand souls in the world and the thousand had been split up into millions of pieces. As long as they have the same soul then we can pair them."

"That seems easy enough." Axel consented.

Demyx chuckled, "not really. Most people find their mates on their own but some people need help. The more difficult one."

Zexion lifted an arm out in front of him and drew his other hand back so it was like he aiming a bow.

"Hey! That's Seifer." Roxas observed. He hated him when he was alive but right now he did not know how he felt about him. It was like all his hate disappeared.

Zexion let go of his hand and Roxas' eyes widened as an arrow of light appeared and shot straight in Seifer's back. The bully did not seem to notice. He scanned his eyes for the closest person to match Seifer's soul type and shot.

Roxas almost laughed when he saw who it was. The popular athletic golden boy Hayner and the druggy bad boy Seifer.

That is an interesting pair.

"See, it's fun." Demyx chuckled. He frowned. "Though you have to be careful. The last guy raped the girl we paired him with and in return she killed him."

Roxas frowned at that.

"Want to try?"

As if Roxas could say no to that.

XXX

So second chapter up. I hope you liked it. Some more background on how Roxas died.

Seifer x Hayner is one of my fav shippings. I love them together so of course they had to be together.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you liked and what you did not like.

**Lilac ;) **


	3. Chapter 3

**The Afterlife**

**Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora. More to come :)**

**XXX**

**Roxas sighed and watched his brother walk around pointlessly. He had an hour before he had to meet up with Axel and get assigned their next assignment and he just could not watch Sora cry anymore.**

**Cloud was, in lack of any other words, boring. **

**He would get up at eight in the morning, have a shower, get dressed, eat cold cereal and then go to work for ten hours in a cubical. **

**After work he would go straight home and go on the computer until he was too tired to function and would go to bed.**

**Cloud's life was pretty sad.**

**Roxas could not help but wonder if his life was just a sad as Cloud's was. He did not do anything productive with his life. **

**Cloud sighed and walked outside. He walked towards the modest looking house across the street and stared at it for a while. Roxas stood next to Cloud and curiously looked at what Cloud was watching. **

**A pretty woman was outside planting an equally beautiful flower in her flowerbed. Her brown hair tied into a messy bun. A handsome dark haired man exited the house with a potted plant in his arms.**

**"****Hey babe, where do you want this one?"**

**The woman turned and smiled at him. Roxas could see that her stomach was swollen. She was pregnant.**

**"****By the iris' Zack."**

**The man, Zack, just blinked. He looked around helplessly at all the different kinds of flowers. His eyes drifted over to where Cloud was standing and froze. A warm smile appeared on his face as he put down the pot.**

**The woman looked up surprised at Zack's actions and met Cloud's eyes. She smiled and him and stood up. She pulled off her gloves and the muddy apron she had on and wobbled up to Cloud, giving him a hug as well as she could with a huge stomach.**

**Cloud smiled and hugged her back.**

**"****I'm so sorry about your brother. Leon told me you were taking his death pretty rough."**

**Cloud looked surprised at that, "Leon did? I haven't spoken to him yet though. I only saw him for a little while at Rox's funeral." his voice crackled a little at the funeral part.**

**The woman smiled, her face lighting up. "Leon is your best friend. He can tell this sort of thing."**

**Cloud didn't say anything.**

**"****Do you want to come in? Lily and Heather miss you. Plus Aerith just made her delicious apple pie." Zack said.**

**Aerith blushed at the compliment but looked at Cloud with big, begging eyes.**

**Cloud smiled, it was small but noticeable. Aerith took that as a yes and proceeded in dragging Cloud inside. Zack sighed and began cleaning up the mess outside.**

**Roxas smiled. It was nice to know that Cloud had such good friends.**

**XXX**

**Roxas smiled at the small ball of light he was handed. It was an undamaged human soul. It was innocence in its purest form.**

**This is what everyone starts out as. Pure light. **

**Always so influential and each containing their own unique abilities.**

**Saix looked at him and motioned to the ball. "You are on delivering duty today. You go to the hospital and place this light in all the newborns there."**

**Axel nodded and smiled down at his own light. Roxas frowned at that. Wherever Axel goes on his breaks makes him sad. Roxas could see it in his eyes.**

**Axel noticed Roxas staring at him and let a huge, but fake, grin stretch across his face. "Come on blondie. I always wanted to play God."**

**Roxas and Axel entered the portal Saix made them and appeared at the hospital waiting room. **

**"****Thank god, I thought they forgot about my reinforcements and I would be stuck here for another ten hours." **

**Roxas watched, shocked as a pink haired boy complained. A curvy blond girl just sighed and tossed a black binder at them. Axel caught it single handedly and opened it. **

**"****Room 347, Yuna Sparrow." Axel read.**

**"****You better hurry, she was crowning when we got up there a minute ago."**

**Roxas and Axel closed their eyes and focused on the place they wanted to go. They appeared outside room 347 and smiled. It was hard to transport but they were getting better at it.**

**Axel and Roxas flinched at the screams coming from within the room.**

**"****Tidus, you will never touch me again! I swear-argg!"**

**A blond man winced at that and proceeded in comforting his wife. A sweaty brunette woman screamed as she bared down.**

**"****Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl."**

**The doctors placed the screaming baby down on a table and began to tend to Yuna. Roxas walked over to the baby and put the light he had in his arms to her mouth. The baby scrunched her little face and turned red. Her screams became louder and clearer.**

**Roxas turned to Axel and saw a silly smile on his face. The blond could not help but get giddy at the thought of a new baby.**

**Axel lifted up the book the blond girl from earlier, Roxas recalled her name being Larxene and her partner Marluxia, "we should get going, the next woman is in the room right next door."**

**Roxas nodded and followed Axel through the wall. Roxas frowned at this picture. The girl couldn't be any older than 16. She screamed as she bared down again tiredly.**

**Roxas frowned as he watched the girl force the baby out, tearing herself in half. She kept screaming and pushing. He watched in horror as she stopped and fell back.**

**The doctors handed the baby away quickly as he desperately tried to save the girl's life. Axel pressed his light into the baby's mouth. A weak cry sounded throughout the room but a weak cry was better than no cry.**

**"****I want to see her!"**

**Roxas watched as a young dark haired boy barged into the room. He began crying when he saw the girl on the table. He looked at the doctors and glared at them. "Save her! It's your job, isn't it?"**

**The doctor just sighed, "I'm sorry."**

**"****No!" He gasped out.**

**"****Do you want to meet your daughter?"**

**The boy looked up, shocked at that. "She survived?" he whispered. He nodded at that. A doctor lifted the girl from the table and placed her in the boy's arms. He smiled at the baby and memorized all her details.**

**"****Do you have a name?"**

**The boy looked at his dead girlfriend and sighed. "Xion. Her name. I want to name her after her mother. So she will grow up to be just as strong and beautiful as her."**

**Axel smiled at that.**

**Roxas looked up, surprised, as Demyx and Zexion walked in. Demyx gave Roxas a sad smile. **

**"****Taker is the worst job." was all he said. **

**Zexion walked up to the girl's corpse and took her hand. The girl, Xion, emerged from her body and looked around confused. Zexion just waved his hand and she disappeared.**

**Axel just looked as shocked as Roxas did.**

**They didn't want that job.**

**XXX**

**So, what do you think? Please review with what you liked and what you disliked.**

**Free cookies for all who review (yes this is bribery)**

**Lilac ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

The Afterlife

Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora

XXX

"So you decided to stay back as well I take it," Roxas stated as he took a seat on the edge of a clock tower Axel had showed him earlier.

A pretty smile spread across pink lips. "I love this view. Do you come here everyday?"

Roxas looked over at the town beneath him and smiled. "I try to. Axel showed it to me. He said this place is very important to him for some reason. He should be here soon."

"I never formally introduced myself, did I?"

"Me neither. My name is Roxas."

"Xion."

"Xion. That's a pretty name."

Xion frowned. "I saw my boyfriend today. They are trying to separate him from our child."

Roxas frowned, "why?"

"His parents never liked me. My parents never liked his family. They want to raise her by themselves but I want my child to grow up with her father. I'm sorry, I'm just throwing all this on you like this. I just, want Van to be happy."

"Van? Is that your boyfriend?"

Xion smiled and nodded. "Vanitas. He was a bad boy before I met him but he changed for me. He stopped doing drugs and getting mixed up in the wrong crowds for me. I'm afraid he will revert back to his old was without me there."

Roxas frowned. That sounded pretty bad. "What are you going to do about it?"

Xion frowned. "I can't do anything. I'm dead."

Roxas smiled at that. "Well then act as his guardian angel and look out for him when you aren't working."

"I will."

"My ladies are both already gathered here for me!" Axel said dramatically.

Roxas blushed at that while Xion just giggled.

Xion stood up and dusted off her legs. "I should get going. They're assigning me a partner today."

"Good luck!" Roxas called.

Xion gave him a soft smile before disappearing.

Roxas looked up at Axel and frowned. "So how did you die anyway?"

Axel's eyes darkened. He looked away. Roxas nodded knowing that he shouldn't push the matter.

"It was this tower."

Roxas looked up shocked.

Axel continued, a smile on his lips. It was a sad smile.

"It was an accident. I was up here waiting… waiting for… for him. But he never showed up. I got so upset and I jumped. It was just a spur of the moment thing. You know, those moments when you have a completely irrational thought and think of suicide as the only answer."

Roxas nodded at that.

Axel gave Roxas a heartbreaking look. His eyes looked so lost and far away that Roxas had no idea what Axel was thinking about.

"Hey look, it's the couple we cupid-ed earlier this week." Axel pointed out.

Roxas giggled at that, "Cupid-ed?"

"It's a thing," Axel confirmed.

Roxas laughed at that. Axel couldn't help but smile.

The duo watched as Seifer followed Hayner up the street to the balcony below the tower. Hayner pointed at something and said something in Seifer's ear.

Seifer just nodded and smiled.

The two really did look happy together. The more Roxas thought about it the more Hayner and Seifer seemed like a perfect match for each other. He remembered Hayner telling him how Seifer and he used to be best friends and then how they had a falling out.

Hayner would pick fights with Seifer and Seifer would pick fights with Hayner.

Roxas couldn't help but think that they belonged together. All they ever wanted was the other. Even when their families made them stop seeing each other they still found a way.

Roxas frowned as they separated quickly. Seifer pushed Hayner to the ground just in time for his friends to come running in. The guilt in Seifer's eyes was overwhelming and the disappointment in Hayner's crushed Roxas.

Axel sighed, "we have work to do."

Roxas nodded and followed Axel back to the base.

XXX

The schedule was always the same. Wake up, get dressed, eat something, go to Roxas' grave, go to school, go back to Roxas' grave, eat dinner and go back to sleep.

Sora was sad.

This always happened to him. He was always too carefree. He always took what he had for granted.

First his mother left him and his father when he was ten. Sure, that happened to a lot of kids when they grow up. He still had his dad.

Or so he thought.

His dad died of alcohol poisoning when he was 15 so he went to live with his mom. He still had her.

No. He didn't.

She had remarried a seemingly nice man who proceeded to rape Sora every night for a month before he told her.

She accused him of being a slut and cast him out on the streets where he called his cousin Leon and stayed with him.

So he was lucky he could be with family. That happened to a lot of families, right?

Leon then introduced him to his best friend Cloud and Cloud's little brother Roxas.

Sora should have known he was losing his grip on his own mind so why did he think he could handle a relationship? Maybe he just wanted to share a burden.

Maybe he just wanted something stable in his horrible life.

So why not Roxas? The boy was beautiful and smart. Everything Sora could dream of. He was also lonely. They were both lonely so why not get together. That way neither of them had to be lonely again.

Then he got comfortable around the other boy. He would make new friends and bring them home to meet Roxas.

How could he not notice how distant Roxas had become?

What could he do to keep Roxas?

Then his friend Kairi got engaged and Sora got it. He would marry the boy of his dreams. Roxas was already above his class. The boy was gorgeous and smart and totally out of Sora's league.

How could Sora be so stupid? He should have paid more attention to his blond.

He had met up with Leon to beg for a place to stay. Leon had told him that he sent Cloud to a special therapy place to help him cope with Roxas' death and his parents nagging and pretty much to get away from reality. He suggested Sora go to the place as well.

So here he was. Dressed in a 'calming' white uniform attending classes and meeting up with three therapists a day.

"You know, if you keep frowning, your face might get stuck like that."

Oh yeah. And his roommate.

A boy just like him who he can relate to since he also lost his boyfriend.

Riku.

AKA: Sora's rebound.

Not that the other boy minded. They were both still lonely and sad and wanted to feel their boyfriends again.

This was the closest they could.

Sora turned in Riku's embrace and flipped them so he was straddling him.

"Mmm, Roxas, I love you so much," Sora moaned as he rubbed himself against Riku.

"Axel," Riku moaned back.

If they closed their eyes and pretended hard enough then they could truly be happy again.

Roxas and Axel just watched from the corner of the room.

"Who would have thought? My ex and your ex hooking up." Roxas stated.

Axel bit his lip. "It's kind of hot. Maybe we should-?" he wiggled his eyebrow.

Roxas turned and disappeared from the room.

"Come on Roxy, don't be that way! They were just getting to the good part!"

Axel sighed and frowned. He wasn't sure how he felt about their relationship but he was dead and Riku deserved to be happy. Plus their souls matched up and…

Axel looked down at his list and frowned at the top names.

Riku and Sora - room 678

Slowly Axel pulled back his bow and shot Riku in the chest. He hesitated for a second but before he could hit Sora another arrow whizzed by his ear and landed in Sora's chest.

Roxas lowered his bow and looked down, tears in his eyes. "Let's leave."

Axel had no complaints about that.

XXX

Wow, another chapter out already? I must really like you guys…

Reviews for the poor. *Holds out a hat*

Free virtual cookies!

**Lilac ;) **


	5. Chapter 5

The Afterlife

Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora

XXX

"I feel sad," Axel decided. He was currently reclined on the couch with a whiskey in his hand.

Roxas frowned. "Me too." he pouted. His small body hanging upside down off the couch.

"Me three," Xion pitched in from her position, curled up on the edge of the couch.

A depressed sigh echoed through the room.

"Oh my god! This room is like negative fifty degrees. I can almost feel the depression strangling me!" Demyx gasped dramatically as he entered the room.

Zexion rolled his eyes and slapped Demyx on the back of the head, murmuring something about Demyx being an idiot.

Demyx glared at his partner and pouted. "guys! Come on! We should be partying right now! Not moping."

"We're dead Dem. What is so great about that?" Axel asked as he took another swig from his bottle.

Demyx crossed his arms. "Well for once, we don't get fat if we eat too much."

"That was never an issue for me. I have a fast metabolism." Axel pointed out.

"Lucky you," Roxas mumbled under his breath.

Axel smirked at that.

"You know what I discovered?" Demyx questioned as he squeezed in between Roxas and Axel.

Axel rolled his eyes and looked over at the annoying dirty blond, "please enlighten us."

"Life is so much better when you're dead."

"Please exaggerate," Axel begged sarcastically as he batted his eyelashes and pouted at Demyx.

Demyx sighed, "you're so pessimistic."

Axel scowled at that, "what? Moi? Pessimistic?"

Demyx rolled his eyes, "forget it! Just continue moping about your boyfriends! I dont care!"

"Awe! Don't be that way Demmy!"

Roxas and Xion couldn't help but giggle as Demyx stormed out of the room. Axel mock waved good-bye and turned to Roxas and Xion.

Xion giggled, "You should apologize to him."

"Later," Axel decided.

XXX

Demyx was not kidding when he claimed taker was the worst job. As if Axel and Roxas were not depressed enough.

No. Not only did they get to watch the loves of their lives make out with each other but they also got to steal the light from innocent people.

"What have you done!"

Roxas looked over at a sobbing girl crouched over her best friend.

"Get up bitch!"

Roxas watched as a masked man stripped a girl and deflower her before proceeding to murder her.

Axel pulled a light out of each of the girls and frowned. The light was no longer the beautiful glowing ball it was before but a dull and faint light tainted by humanity.

Roxas pulled the two girls souls out of their bodies and portaled them to Saix.

"I think Demyx was right. We are all better off dead." Roxas decided.

"Life suck!" Axel claimed. "These poor girls."

"Who's next?" Roxas asked as he watched the dirty pedophile dump the two young girls in a dustbin. What was wrong with some people?

Axel looked in the small pink book marked Death Note. It used to be a simple black booklet with a never ending list of people but then Marluxia thought it was too sad to look at and changed it to his version of death's book.

"Zack Fair."

Roxas' eyes widened at that. "what did you say?"

"Zackary Fair. Do you know him?"

Roxas nodded slowly at that. Zack was one of Cloud's best friends. He was a loving husband and the father to two little girls. "We can't kill him though. He means everything to those girls and my brother."

Axel frowned at that. He thought for a moment and just smiled. "Then we won't kill him. I'll check the next person."

Roxas felt uneasy about that decision but no matter what he would not kill Zack.

Axel frowned. "It's not letting me see anyone else."

Roxas grabbed the pink booklet and opened to the last page.

_Zack Fair._

Axel frowned, "Roxas. Maybe we should just collect his soul and light."

Roxas shook his head. "No!"

"It's our job Roxas!"

"I don't care. My brother already lost me, I don't want to hurt him anymore," Roxas whispered the last part.

Axel sighed, "why did I get partnered with the stubbornest person alive?"

Roxas gave him a look. "I'm not alive though."

Axel groaned and turned away. "Whatever."

Big blue eyes watered at the redhead, a slight pout forming on pink lips.

"Fine, you don't have to do it. I'll do it myself."

"No! He can't die!" Roxas cried.

Axel frowned at that. He submitted to the blond reluctantly. "Fine. Let's get back to base."

XXX

Saix watched through his portal as the two new members walked away from the case and sighed. He did not think they would just walk away from a mission. They unfortunately still had a bit of humanity left.

Xemnas had been right. That blond boy was special. He was still able to resist submitting entirely to the dark. He felt compassion towards specific humans enough to disobey direct orders.

That was interesting though. Roxas would be the first of millions to have been able to retain their full humanity.

"Excuse me sir, we finished our mission."

Saix turned around and met Xion's pretty eyes. She smiled at him and handed him a manila folder.

Her partner, a pretty blond girl, gave Saix a shy smile as she handing him a small black binder.

"Good work girls. Take a couple hours to rest and then by ten I expect you back."

Xion smiled. "Thanks sir! Come on Namine! I know this great place to rest," she said while dragging the other girl off.

Saix waited until they were gone before returning to his observations. The foggy screen shifted to one of a pale young man laying broken on the road after being hit by a car.

A heavily pregnant woman held two small girls against her chest as she sobbed. One of the girls looked at the body, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

"Daddy!" she cried out sobbing harder than before.

Zack Fair laid still on the ground, not moving. Saix frowned as he watched the light inside the soul blacken. No one came to remove the precious object. It required life to feed off of and without any it just blackened.

His soul was still trapped inside his body, unable to escape without assistance.

Slowly a black puddle formed around the body, unseen by the living. Black antenna's formed out of the puddle followed by a round, completely black head. A sleek body quickly followed. The creature screamed into the air.

Rain began pouring down on the scene. Beady black eyes scanned its surroundings. It bend it's head and began devouring the soul in front of him.

Zack screamed as the monster devoured him.

Saix held out his hand and his blue claymore appeared. He closed his eyes and vanished.

XXX

So…. What did you think?

Sorry guys! I've been so busy lately. Like I told you earlier. Don't get a life. It takes up so much time :P

Please tell me what you think in the comment box below :) It was a birthday a week ago so free virtual cake to all who review :)

Lilac ;P


	6. Chapter 6

The Afterlife

Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Sora x Riku, (past) Riku x Axel, (past) Roxas x Sora

XXX

Roxas looked at the red slip in his hand sadly. Not taking Zack's soul had consequences. He had his first warning. Two more of those and he will be forced to move on.

Axel had the same red slip in his hands as well.

"Hey, don't fret too much about it." Demyx said as he observed their worried faces.

Roxas frowned and pocketed the small piece of paper.

"We have a lot of work to do if we want to get back in Saix's good books." Axel said. "there is someone dying in the hospital. We should get going."

Roxas frowned at that and stood. He followed Axel through a portal.

He was starting to hate the fact that he decided to stay back. He was ruining people's lives and breaking his own heart. Seeing the people he loved in pain hurt him.

Sora, Cloud, and now Axel.

The redhead changed a lot from since their first meeting. Gone was the friendly, annoying parasite he was forced to work with. Instead he watched as Axel's soul darkened more and more every day.

Death was hard.

Roxas had always thought death would be the end. Death was supposed to be the answer. His release.

Killing himself was a mistake. He was more miserable than he had ever been when he was alive. He can't even fix his mistakes anymore. He should have tried harder.

Sora and Cloud had been released from their therapy weekend and were now going back to their lives. Roxas was happy to see Sora attempt to reconnect with his friends and start dating Riku.

A part of Roxas was upset that Sora moved on so quickly but he pushed the jealousy aside and decided to put Sora's feeling first.

After being the awful boyfriend he was this was the least he could do.

Roxas was beginning to lose his humanity and his sanity. He could feel it everytime he took a soul. His guilt was becoming less and less.

Nothing mattered anymore. Sora was already moving on and it was only a matter of time before Cloud did too.

Cloud.

Roxas still felt guilty. Not only had Zack died that night but it turned out that by not collecting his soul, three other innocent people had died. People who should still be alive if it wasn't for Roxas' selfishness.

Zack's soul was never recovered. Apparently they can't live without a proper body and will disappear. Roxas never really got any detail but he had a feeling Zack's soul had to do with the three innocent deaths.

Maybe he should just cross over.

He still didn't know what would happen to him when he did though. Was it better or worse than his situation right now? He had no way of knowing.

He thought death was a better place and look where it got him.

Maybe he would go to Hell. Maybe he was already in Hell.

It certainly felt that way.

Roxas followed Axel on their mission. He let Axel do most of the work. He had no idea what the redhead was thinking but he had a feeling Axel's thoughts were as dark or if not darker than his currently was.

Falling off a building by accident seemed like an awful way to die.

How impulsive was Axel. There must be more to the story than just that.

Now curious, Roxas observed the redhead. He was thin, anorexic thin. Maybe he had body image problems.

Somehow Roxas doubted that. The redhead seemed pretty comfortable in his own skin to the point where his ego was too big to listen to.

Maybe he just made a fool out of himself to hide his hidden insecurities.

Roxas decided not to think about it too much.

"Who's the target?" Roxas asked as they appeared in the hospital.

"His name is Squall Leonhart. For some reason his name is all blurry though." Axel frowned.

Roxas took the list and stared at it with sad eyes. Cloud and Sora had really bad luck. Leon was Sora's favorite cousin and Cloud's closest friend.

"What happened?" Roxas asked. Axel just shrugged as they entered the hospital room.

Leon was on the table and the doctors had his chest open. Roxas looked at the list. Apparently Leon had jumped in front of a child to save them from a bullet some no good thug had shot.

It wasn't fair. Roxas watched as a nurse entered informing the surgeons that Leon's friends and family were here.

Roxas followed the doctor out of the room and watched Cloud and Sora and some of Leon's other relatives and friends get told that Leon was shot and it didn't look good but they were going to try everything they could to make sure he made it.

Sora and Leon looked like their world was being ripped apart.

In a way it was.

"Hey Rox, look at this." Axel said gaining his attention. He handed the blond the book and pointed at Leon's name. The already faded name was fading even more.

Roxas brightened up with hope and ran to the OR. The were sowing Leon up with proud expressions stating that if he made it through the night he would most likely live.

Roxas stayed there all night and watched as Sora and Cloud cried and slept in Leon's room. By morning the name had been completely erased from the list and a new one took it's place.

Roxas just frowned at that. Why would they put the name of someone who survives on their list?

Unless. Maybe some of these people were saved from death somehow?

Leon's name was definitely there at one point which means that he had died. Was he somehow brought back?

Roxas was getting a headache just thinking about it. He found Axel in the nursery watching the babies sleep and told him that Leon survived.

The duo, having lost a lot of time waiting for Leon's name to either darken or disappear, set back to work.

Roxas faintly wondered what would happen to someone if they took their soul out before they fully died what would happen?

Deciding not to test that theory yet, he followed Axel to a home where an old lady just fell down the stairs and died.

Maybe Roxas would stick around a bit longer. Things just got a little less depressing.

xXxXx

Okay, sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Not sure if anyone is still reading this but if you are please review so I know if I should continue.

Lilac ;)


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